Week 13 recap

Week 13: This week was primarily about privacy as much was similar to what we've been reading for level 3. Nothing to Hide by Daniel Solove was the book I finished reading for the week and discussed the issue of privacy and government searches. Most of the arguments were rooted in the Fourth Amendment and how the governments methods of information gathering can basically render a citizens Fourth Amendment rights as    invalid. Why? Because the government believes that they must keep information gathering a as a secret, giving no transparency reports or having oversight by the judicial system. The Supreme Court and other courts decisions on cases brought forward by citizens who felt their rights were violated during these searches seemed to favor the the government on grounds of secrecy being important for homeland security. This book covered many different ideas and arguments like the Nothing to Hide argument and the Third Party Doctrine. Nothing to Hide argument basically confuses privacy with secrecy, and believes that if a person has nothing to hide form the government then they should be willing to give up rights and privacy for the sake of national security. As for the Third Party Doctrine, I will attach a  link to an article below which applies the doctrine to an argument.

http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3270&context=bclr

 The school semester is coming near an end and I feel a bit of relief. So far I am feel confident on my standing to earn in A in the class. In this class, I have picked up a heavy load of knowledge on such topics as copyright, privacy, and constitution, but I feel the most knowledge I have picked up is in the topic of technology. I never realized all the unique tools out on the internet available to me such as Wikilinks and Prezi. My term paper is coming along, I just need to type the paper out as all the ideas and resources are already complete.

Week 12 recap

Week 12: This week is spring break for many but, for me its a time to catch up on my school work. Among the many things I need to complete during spring break is my homework for Political Science 393. For POLS393, my assignments were 1) Read 2 books, 2) Develop a term paper 3) Watch a discussion and write a review, 4) Post my blog posts. So far I have accomplished this all except for finishing one of the two books. The due date is 4/12, so I have time but, want to finish by this Friday. It took me an entire day to structure my term paper but, now I feel comfortable with the direction of my thesis. The Kirtsaeng discussion was interesting and enjoyable. Watching an actual discussion of a copyright issue was very helpful in giving me a better understanding of the copyright laws and constitutional rights. Below is the link to the discussion, which I recommend you check out if your not one of the professors or students who have watched it. My blog post are late but, I am still making this effort to complete all 16 weeks.

http://www.pijip-impact.org/events/kirtsaeng-v-wiley/

Almost 2/3 finish with this semester and I feel confident in getting an A grade. Of course the workload is heavy, but a little bit of effort can go a long way. Last time I checked the points log, my placing was 3rd overall in the class. The students in this class are probably one of the most brightest groups I've worked with in college. My competitive side forced me to put in that extra effort to be able to compete with some of the best Political Science undergraduates at UH-Manoa. This is also a great opportunity to learn new things, not just from professors, but also students.